Sexy Sells

Marilyn Monroe and Helmut Newton Command Strong Photography Prices

A photograph of Marilyn Monroe by Bert Stern and a photograph by Helmut Newton of four women naked and then dressed sold for record prices on Wednesday, Christie’s auction house said.

The Newton photo “Sie Kommen, (Naked and Dressed), Paris, 1981” sold for $662,500, smashing the previous 2007 record for the photographer of $380,725, while the Stern image “The Last Sitting,” one of the last pictures of Monroe before her death, sold for $146,500, shattering the $63,000 mark set in 1994.

Both photos were part of the Constantiner Collection, which included the largest-ever grouping of Monroe photos to come to market, more than 100 in all. The entire Constantiner Collection fetched $7.7 million, the highest total for a single owner dedicated photographs sale, Christie’s said.

It’s worth noting that the sale was something of referendum on Helmut Newton with the largest selection of his work to come up at one time. The Newtons brought in $4 million of the total sale’s $7.7 million.